Saturday, October 24, 2015

Iceland has
been at the forefront of the struggle for gender equality for more than a
century. It was 100 years ago, this past June, when Icelandic women received
the right to vote in national elections and Icelandic immigrants and their
descendants were instrumental in winning the same right for women in Manitoba a
little more than six months later. We are proudly marking the centennial of
these twin achievements on both sides of the sea. But the right to vote
represents only one step on the road to gender equality and, notwithstanding
the great strides that have been made, we have not yet arrived at our desired
destination.There’s
another anniversary marking an important milestone in the quest for equality
this year. It has been forty years since the women of Iceland made headlines
around the world for their bold Women’s Day Off, something that is generally
characterized as “the day the women of Iceland went on strike.” If you spend
any time online, there’s a good chance you’ve received an email or have perhaps
seen a Facebook post showing the huge crowd of women who gathered around
Lækjartorg and Arnarhóll in midtown Reykjavík on October 24, 1975. I have been
bombarded with messages from friends seeking to draw my attention to this
historic event, as if it could have escaped my notice. I remember the “strike”
vividly, if only because I can recall my mom teasing my dad about launching a
sympathy strike of her own. It sticks in my head that dad made supper that day.The United
Nations had declared 1975 to be International Women’s Year. In Iceland, the
strike was one of the events organized to mark the year, calling attention to
inequality and demanding corrective action. It’s estimated that ninety percent
of the country’s women took the day off – both at home and at the workplace –
and somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000 women descended on the heart of
Reykjavík, filling the streets and squares for as far as the eye could see.
They called for fair pay, equal opportunity, improved child care, and world
peace. The women sang, listened to speeches, and networked amongst themselves,
while their husbands and fathers, sons and brothers dealt with the effects of
their one-day absence. Women and men alike learned a lot that day.Five years
later, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir became the first woman in the world to be
democratically elected as a head of state. Not long afterwards, Kvennalistinn (The Women’s List) was
organized as a political party and it competed in both municipal and national
elections, winning three seats in Alþingi in the 1983 election and doubling its
numbers four years later. Iceland’s women weren’t turning back.Today, Iceland
has the smallest gender gap in the world, according to the Global Gender Gap
Index, which gives the county a score of 0.8594, where 1.0 would indicate full
equality. Women graduating from university significantly outnumber men and
Iceland leads the world in the proportion of women in professional and
technical occupations. Women’s participation in the labour force is in the top
ten and the wage gap has shrunk to about 20 percent. High-quality child care is
readily available and affordable, while household responsibilities are shared more
equitably than in other countries. Finally, Icelandic women are more
politically empowered than anywhere else. Yet, even with these measures of
success, the aspirations of 1975 have not been fully achieved – Icelandic women
are better off than elsewhere, but full equality has not yet been achieved.
Forty years later, there’s still work to do, but Iceland’s experience and
tangible progress still serve as an inspiration to women around the world who
long for equality – and the men who stand with them as allies.